Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTH) Director Peter L. Ax Sells 3,000 Shares

Meritage Homes Co. (NYSE:MTHGet Free Report) Director Peter L. Ax sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.50, for a total transaction of $448,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,029 shares in the company, valued at $2,246,835.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Meritage Homes Stock Performance

NYSE MTH opened at $149.24 on Wednesday. Meritage Homes Co. has a 52-week low of $65.40 and a 52-week high of $152.55. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18. The company has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 1.64.

Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTHGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The construction company reported $5.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $1.53. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Meritage Homes had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 21.15%. The company’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Meritage Homes Co. will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Meritage Homes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Meritage Homes’s payout ratio is 4.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $155.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, May 31st. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Meritage Homes from $137.00 to $141.00 in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Meritage Homes in a research report on Wednesday, June 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.33.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Meritage Homes

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meritage Homes

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MTH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,216,167 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $334,047,000 after acquiring an additional 23,652 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,382,555 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $127,472,000 after acquiring an additional 96,567 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,320,818 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $92,814,000 after acquiring an additional 4,271 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,133,888 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $104,544,000 after acquiring an additional 8,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its stake in Meritage Homes by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 871,339 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $80,337,000 after acquiring an additional 3,922 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

About Meritage Homes

(Get Free Report)

Meritage Homes Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and builds single-family attached and detached homes in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Homebuilding and Financial Services. It acquires and develops land; and constructs, markets, and sells homes for first-time and first move-up buyers in Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.

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Insider Buying and Selling by Quarter for Meritage Homes (NYSE:MTH)

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